VLT Suzaku observations of the Fermi pulsar PSR J1028-5819

Abstract

We used optical images taken with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the B and V bands to search for the optical counterpart of PSR J1028-5819 or constrain its optical brightness. At the same time, we used an archival Suzaku observation to confirm the preliminary identification of the pulsar's X-ray counterpart obtained by Swift. Due to the large uncertainty on the pulsar's radio position and the presence of a bright (V = 13.2) early F-type star at < 4", we could not detect its counterpart down to flux limits of B~25.4 and V ~25.3, the deepest obtained so far for PSR J1028-5819. From the Suzaku observations, we found that the X-ray spectrum of the pulsar's candidate counterpart is best-fit by a power-law with spectral index 1.7 +/- 0.2 and an absorption column density NH < 10^21 cm-2, which would support the proposed X-ray identification. Moreover, we found possible evidence for the presence of diffuse emission around the pulsar. If real, and associated with a pulsar wind nebula (PWN), its surface brightness and angular extent would be compatible with the expectations for a ~100 kyr old pulsar at the PSR J1028-5819 distance.

10 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics

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• The Second Fermi Large Area Telescope Catalog of Gamma-ray Pulsars
• Constraints on the Galactic Population of TEV Pulsar Wind Nebulae Using Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations
• Radio-quiet and radio-loud pulsars: similar in Gamma-rays but different in X-rays
• Order parameters for the high-energy spectra of pulsars
• Observations of three young gamma-ray pulsars with the Gran Telescopio Canarias
• Deep optical observations of the gamma-ray pulsar PSR J0007+7303 in the CTA 1 supernova remnant
• Optical Observations of PSR J0205+6449 - the next optical pulsar?
• New VLT observations of the Fermi pulsar PSR J1048-5832
• The power-law component of the X-ray emissions from pulsar wind nebulae and their pulsars
• Searching for the optical counterparts of two young gamma-ray pulsars
• A high-magnetic-field radio pulsar survey with Swift/XRT